NATO activates first missile defence site in Europe

Key Points

• The ‘Aegis Ashore’ missile defence site in Romania has been declared operational by NATO
• The system will protect Europe from ballistic missile attacks and will be joined by a second site in Poland by 2018

NATO’s first land-based ballistic missile defence (BMD) system in Europe was officially declared operational in Deveselu, Romania, on 12 May.

“Today represents an important moment for NATO and transatlantic security,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, speaking alongside Romanian prime minister Dacian Ciolos and US deputy secretary of defence Robert Work.

Stoltenberg underlined that the activation of the site “represents a significant increase in the capability to defend European allies against the proliferation of ballistic missiles from outside the Euro-Atlantic area”.

“The threat to NATO Allies from missiles outside the Euro-Atlantic area is real,” the NATO head said. “Several countries are seeking to develop or acquire them. Our missile defence programme represents a long-term investment against this long-term threat.”

The first-of-its-kind land-based missile defence installation is designed to detect, track, engage, and destroy ballistic missiles in flight outside the atmosphere. Dubbed ‘Aegis Ashore’, the base uses technology which is almost identical to that used on US Navy Aegis ships. Alongside SPY-1 radars from the naval Aegis system, three batteries (24 missiles) of SM-3 Block IB interceptors are deployed at the Deveselu facility. The SM-3 Block IB missile has a range of up to 1,200 km and is described by manufacturer Raytheon as having a “robust capability” against short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

In comments directed at Russian hostility to the NATO BMD system, Stoltenberg said, “Our system is not directed against Russia. It is purely defensive. And it will not undermine Russia’s strategic deterrence. Geography and physics make that impossible. The NATO system cannot shoot down Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles from here in Romania or from Poland”.

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